LESSON 25

I do not know what anything is for.

1 Purpose is
meaning. Today's idea explains why nothing you see means
anything. You do not know what it is for. Therefore, it is
meaningless to you. Everything is for your own best interests. That
is what it is for; that is its purpose; that is what it means. It is
in recognizing this that your goals become unified. It is in
recognizing this that what you see is given meaning.

2 You perceive
the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals.
These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because
the ego is not you. This false identification makes you incapable of
understanding what anything is for. As a result, you are bound to
misuse it. When you believe this, you will try to withdraw the goals
you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce
them.

3 Another way
of describing the goals you now perceive is to say that they are all
concerned with "personal" interests. Since you have no
personal interests, your goals are really concerned with nothing. In
cherishing them, therefore, you have no goals at all. And thus you do
not know what anything is for.

4 Before you
can make any sense out of the exercises for today, one more thought
is necessary. At the most superficial levels, you do recognize
purpose. Yet purpose cannot be understood at these levels. For
example, you do understand that a telephone is for the purpose of
talking to someone who is not physically in your immediate vicinity.
What you do not understand is what you want to reach him for. And it
is this that makes your contact with him meaningful or not.

5 It is
crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have
established for everything. The recognition that they are
meaningless, rather than "good" or "bad," is the
only way to accomplish this. The idea for today is a step in this
direction.

6 Six practice
periods, each of two minutes duration, are required. Each practice
period should begin with a slow repetition of the idea for today,
followed by looking about you and letting your glance rest on
whatever happens to catch your eye, near or far,
"important" or "unimportant," "human"
or "nonhuman." With your eyes resting on each subject you
so select, say, for example:

I do not know what this chair is for.
I do not know what this pencil is for.
I do not know what this hand is for.

7 Say this
quite slowly, without shifting your eyes from the subject until you
have completed the statement about it. Then move on to the next
subject, and apply today's idea as before.